Learning to be friends

Students in Cindy Osterhout’s third-grade class at Harbour View

School in Huntington Beach are learning that “Friends Are Fintastic.”

Because the start of the school year can be unsettling for some

students, this class is learning about the virtue of friendship.

“It’s really important to do team building and have them gain a

sense of community right off the bat,” Osterhout said Tuesday. “I

want them to build that right from the start and have them learn the

concept [that] to make a friend, you need to be a friend.”

In just the fifth day of school, these students certainly caught

on to Osterhout’s message.

Last week, Osterhout read her class “The Rainbow Fish,” a book

that tells the story of a fish who makes many friends by sharing his

shiny scales.

The class also watched “The Rainbow Fish” video, and each painted

a fish using watercolors.

During Tuesday’s friendship activities, students created small,

colorful fish scales out of tin cans, each bearing the name of a

student in the class. They were then asked to walk up to the student

whose name was on the can and tell them, “You’re a kind friend

because ... “

“They really grasped what I was trying to get across to them,”

Osterhout said. “I was proud of their answers.”

Osterhout first told the class a few examples of kindness she had

noticed among her students during the first week of school. She said

that Kristen Butler was quick to hold the door open for someone, and

that Paige Polich let one of her classmates borrow her red pen.

Kristen and Paige each broke into a smile upon receiving the

compliment.

Then Osterhout let her students do the explaining.

“You’re a kind friend because you are intelligent and you

o7choosef7 to help others,” Anne Evans said, standing in front of

Josh Matsushima, who thanked her.

Diego Segundo told Cameron Murphy, “You’re a kind friend because

you are smart, funny and you o7neverf7 put people down.”

“I’m happy to hear them give such nice compliments,” said

Osterhout, who instructed the students to add the fish scales they

had received to the watercolor fish they had painted. “It was great

to hear those words build each other up.”

The friendship activity was part of an ongoing effort by Osterhout

to teach her students the 15 virtues from the book “Inch and Miles:

The Journey to Success,” by former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden,

a recipient of the Medal of Freedom.

The 15 virtues, derived from Wooden’s famous “Pyramid of Success,”

are featured in a mural in the main entrance to the school.

“We plan on doing team-building activities to really help these

students bond with each other, “ Osterhout said. “In this case, I

want them to think like a friend, and work on what they might be able

to do differently to become a good friend.”

Her students took that first step Tuesday.